Anandan's STORY

Anandan was an able-bodied athlete competing in sprint events and had started his career with the army in 2005. In 2008 however, while serving in the LOC in J&K, he was injured in a mine blast resulting in below knee amputation. Whilst in hospital he started reading about sprinter and famous blade runner Oscar Pistorius and was inspired to take up para sports.

In 2012, Anandan started competing in 100m and 200m sprint events with a wooden leg. He won Gold and Silver medals at the 2015 World Military Games in South Korea and the same at the 2016 Asia Oceania Athletics Championships in Dubai. Anandan aims to win big and has set his sights on the Asian Para Games in 2018 and Tokyo Olympics in 2020. His promising performances in 2016 and early 2017 saw him shortlisted and eventually selected for support under the GoSports Foundation Para Champions Programme 2017-18. Anandan represented India at the 2017 IPC World Para Athletics Championships in London.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Gold medal in the Men’s 200m and Silver in the Men’ 400m event at the 8th Sharjah International Athletics meet, 2018

Gold medal in the Men’s 400m and Silver in the Men’s 200m at the 10th Fazza IPC Athletics Grand Prix, 2018

Represented India at the 2017 IPC World Para Athletics Championships in Londo